We are beginning to embrace thinking about gender roles after hearing this very intriguing conversation at the snack table between 4 girls and 1 boy.

Girl 1.: I’m tired of being a girl. Braiding my hair hurts.

Girl 2.: Do you like pink and purple?

Girl 1: Yes

Girl 2: Then you have to be a girl. Do you like make-up?

Girl 1: Boys can like lipstick if they wanted. Boys can like pink and purple too.

Girl 3: My brother likes purple everytime.

Girl 1: Boys like video games.

Boy: I like meatballs and everything. Make-up too!

Girl 3: I like cucumbers on my eyes! Girls like make-up and purses.

Boy turns to the girl sitting beside him and says: Girls like flowers right??!!!

Girl 2: Boys like playing with boy stuff like firemen. Girls and boys are not the same. Boys wear underwear and girls wear panties.

Girl 1: Being a girl is a little bit boring sometimes. I’m going to be like my dad when I grow up. I don’t see him very often but I always remember the things he told me.

Girl 2: You could be a girl and a boy.

Girl 1: That would be tricky because I have long hair.

Girl 2: Girls have long hair and boys have short hair.

Girl 2: I have a question? Why would you want to be a boy instead of a girl?

The next day, we brought this conversation to large group and shared what we heard. We asked the rest of the children what they thought…some new ideas were shared..

“girls are pretty and boys are handsome”

“girls like pink”

“boys hate pink”

“boys like green and blue”

We thought it would be interesting to challenge the children to write their names on chart paper with any colour they wanted…This was the result! (The children decided that the titles should be purple for boys and red for girls.)

This has us wondering…what do children think about having interests that fall outside of society’s assigned stereotypes for their gender…hmmmm.